Retailers to adopt new payment tech at point of sale

Cashing in on the increased usage of plastic money, Indian retail
players are expected to adopt new technology solutions for customer
payment transactions.

Management research and consulting firm Zinnov estimates that the
market for card-based point of sale which is currently around Rs 32
crore ($8 million) is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent to
touch about Rs 48 crore ($12 million) by 2012.

The increase of card usage at point of sale (POS) would be driven by
increased adoption of information technology by retail stores for
providing better payment gateways, says Mr Animesh Khan, Senior
Consultant, Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt Ltd.

IT spend in the Indian retail sector was around Rs 5,600 crore in 2006
when the total retail market was around Rs 12 lakh crore.

In a study titled 'Indian retail and technology: a Zinnov overview,'
the Bangalore-based research firm estimates that by 2010, the sector
would spend close to Rs 8,600 crore when the country's total retail
market would be valued at Rs 17 lakh crore.

The report also details the point-of-sale scope in the industry: In
2002, the card-based POS terminal penetration stood at 0.3 percent
(i.e., for every 311 retail shops there was one card based POS
terminal).

This penetration is expected to increase to about 4.6 per cent by
2012. This means Indian retail would have as many as 126,000 card-
based terminals by then, which is now around 64,994.

Source: Business Line